heikids



D. M. HEIKES.

Wire Fence.

No. 21.073. Patented Aug. 3, 1858.

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IINITED p TATEfi @FFIQE.

D. M. I'IEIKES, OF FRANKLIN TO\VNSHII, PENNSYLVANIA.

FIELD-FENCE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,073, dated August 3, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID M. HEIKES, of Franklin township, York county, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode of, Constructing Fences; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in the construct-ion of a fence into separate panels of ordinary lengths, to be ranged and set on the top of the ground, fastened to each other by means of screws and iron bars passing through the posts of the panels, above and below; and supported in a perpendicular attitude by means of braces fastened to the posts near the top, and extending to the ground in a diagonal direction. The fence when thus constructed can conveniently be removed from one place to another, and when set up and screwed together it will stand as firm as any ordinary post and rail fence made in the customary way; and besides this, it is so constructed that it can readily be adjusted to fit every locality of ground, level, ascending, descending or sideling, over which a fence is desired to be erected.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to de scribe its construction and operation.

First, I construct a post of sufiicient height for the fence I intend to make, as seen in the accompanying drawings by lettors a, a. To this post I attach by means of hinges, three props or braces as seen by letters I), b, b, &c. Those braces or props are connected to the post by said hinges as seen by letters 0, 0, 620., about four feet from the ground. These braces are thus fastened on the three sides of the post opposite the range and direction of the fence I intend to make. The posts and braces I fasten firmly to the ground by means of iron clevises and wooden pegs driven in the ground as seen by letters (Z, (Z, (Z, (Z, (Z, &c. I next construct my fence into panels of any ordinary lengths desired, by two posts as seen by letters 6, 6. Into those posts I frame two horizontal rails f, f, about three and a half or four feet apart, into which rails I also frame, according to the length of the panel, a-number of upright posts 9, g, g, g. The tenons of those rails and uprights, as well as their mortises are all beveled, yet held to the center of the mortises by means of wooden pins h, h, h, h, &c. By this construction I can raise or lower the panel at one end from zero to six inches to every foot in the length of the panel, and the posts and uprights will in every case stand perpendicular to the ground. To change the panel from a horizontal position I make use of the circular braces 2', 2', 2', i, which are tightly framed into the extreme post of each panel about midway between the rails 7, j, and extend through the upper rail at 70, 7c, 73', 7c, in which I fasten the brace when the fence is standing by means of the wedge Z, Z, Z, Z. I next frame a small upright post about midway in the upper rail at m, m, through which I extend the upper or master wire a, n, of each panel. I next fill up the intervening space between the two horizontal rails with the wires 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, &c., running parallel to the rails and extending the whole length of the panel from post to post, through the uprights and down tightly at the end of each panel by means of screws fastened to the ends of the wires. The holes of the uprights through which the wires are conducted are all beveled so that the wires passing through those uprights will not interfere in the adjustment of the fence from a horizontal to any other position. Then 'the panel is thus completed I set it 011 the ground on the line of the fence and firmly attach the one post of the panel P, P, P, to the post a, a, as already described by means of a screw passing through said posts as seen at g, 9. To the other post 7", of the panel I again attach a post similar to a, (5, except the middle prop or brace b, is omitted and only used at the beginning and termination point of the fence, and inturning a corner. To which post then I secure the first post of the second panel by thescrew q, as already indicated, and iron bar 8, 8, near the bottom of the posts. If the panel be moved to the one side of this bar across streams the fence will admirably serve as flood gates in high waters.

\Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

The construction of the fence into sepangular position and the posts and uprights arate panels by framing the posts, uprights, Will in every case stand perpendicular to the and rails, together by means of beveled ground.

tenons and m'ortises, and the application of DAVID M. HEIKES. 5 the circular braces, by the application of Witnesses:

Which the fence can readily be raised or JosErI-I BRENEMAN,

lowered at one end from a horizontal to any JOHN EVANS. 

